Doctors and OTs and PTs oh my!

These past two weeks I have felt a bit like Dorothy lost in the land of Oz. But instead of Lions, Tigers and Bears… it has been doctors, Ots and PTs oh my! I made a huge mistake.When we moved here 10 months ago I decided to wait until after Jay’s IEP to look for therapy. I was naive enough to believe that Jay might actually receive the therapy he needed in school. I told you BIG mistake.

Don’t get me wrong, the school has been great. BUT… as long as Jay is academically functioning well, meaning his so-called disabilities are not affecting his grades, well then no services provided. Jay does get some services. He has a wonderful resource teacher who he works with in class and pulls him out of class when necessary. He is allotted breaks throughout the day when sensory experiences get to be too much. We on our own got him the NEO/Alpha-smart word processor which he uses throughout the day in order to participate and complete classroom assignments. With all these accommodations, Jay has been able to get all A’s. Academically he is doing incredibly well. The fact that Jay is in 4th grade and still cannot sign his own name in cursive does not matter. The fact that my boy is 10 and wears sweatpants to school every day so he does not have to worry about trying to button or unbutton regular pants or deal with snaps… that does not matter. The fact that his processing speed, eye hand coordination and spatial relations skills are all below average… yup does not matter. Well it matters to me!

After asking for another meeting with the OT and realizing that things were not going to change with the school… I knew it was time to seek therapy outside of the school. Once again I was naive, and thought it would be a matter of me just choosing the right place. Little did I know that there were wait list over a year-long at some these places in order to get an after school appointment. And that is what we need. I do not want to have to pull Jay out of school early 2 to 3 times a week. Nor do I think the school would be happy about that. But even more importantly… Jay would hate that. It would mess up his routine. But finally after pleading and begging and practically having to slip someone a fifty under the table, (I really did not do that but believe me the thought crossed my mind… the things we parents will result to for the sake of our kids.) we found a place. And it was one of my first choices too. But are you ready for the kicker? They only have one appointment starting in May which is at 2:30pm every other Tuesdays. I snapped it up. Even if this means I will need to pull Jay out of school half an hour early on those days. Even if this means he will only get therapy one time every other week. And even though that is the same day that I have Girl Scouts with Grace. Girl scouts the one thing I do just with and for Grace. Her special mommy and me time. Girl Scouts which meets every other Tuesday. I am praying that the great Autism Gods in the sky are smiling down on me and that the two will not conflict… but I know deep down the reality. We all do. If they do… guess which one will suffer? Poor Gracie.

Now you see why I feel like Dorothy lost in Oz. But in my case I cannot just click my heels three times and everything will magically fall into place.

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4 thoughts on “Doctors and OTs and PTs oh my!”

This is one of those times when you take a deep breath and count your blessings. You can find something else to do with Gracie, she is flexible. The reality is that you could have to deal with two special need children and when that causes a conflict how do you choose?? I am sorry that Laurie Chuba didn’t work out. Duncan has come so far with her 🙂

My son suffers a lot when it comes to having to give up things b/c we have therapy for Katie. Or we are forever dragging him around to these therapies, and he HATES that. It took us a long time to find a good OT, meaning one that gets the sensory component to Autism. And it’s almost an hour away, as is some of our other therapies. The things we do…

You can say that again! I am just hoping that it all works out. I am the Girl Scout Co-Leader for my daughters troop. It is not something I wanted to really do… but it means so much to her. She gives up so much, as you said, that I always thought that was the least I could do.

I remember my sister going through the exact same, constantly pushing and fighting with school for stuff and going further to the top to get what she wanted to include the computer, etc. The sweat pants made me laugh as it was the same with my nephew and still is. What really made me laugh was when you mentioned not being able to write his name in cursive. Let me tell you, at my age that is the only thing that I can write in cursive is my name! Better yet, what kids now days can write in cursive and do they even teach it anymore? Sharon, the fact that Jay is an A student and so talented in many other ways is a blessing. Gracie will survive and you will work things out as you usually do.